Seán Connick (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Andrews for sharing his time with me. I am delighted to have the opportunity to make a contribution to the debate on this timely and important Bill.

Human trafficking is one of the vilest of criminal activities. It is a violation of basic human rights and a modern day form of slavery. Human traffickers deliberately target the most vulnerable, those affected by desperate economic circumstances, victims of war and those with limited access to the protections we in the West take for granted. They have a cruel disregard for human suffering and human life and their only interest in those they are trafficking is how much money they can make out of them. Human trafficking is a global phenomenon and affects almost every country in the world, whether it acts as a source country of the victims of trafficking or as a transit or destination country.

Human trafficking is now believed to be the third most profitable criminal enterprise in the world, with profits exceeded only by drugs smuggling and arms trafficking. In 2004, the US State Department estimated that $9.5 billion was being generated worldwide on an annual basis by human traffickers, with at least $4 billion of this as a result of trafficking for sex slavery. Estimates have been made that up to 1 million people are trafficked across international borders each year. Some 70% of the victims of trafficking are female and 50% are children. The majority of these victims are trafficked with the intention of forcing them into prostitution.

This form of human slavery has generally been associated with the developing world, such as the poorer countries of Eastern Europe and with Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. It is not something that people readily associate with the western world or with Ireland. But the destination country for the majority of trafficking victims is generally in the West and it would be naive of us to believe it is not an issue which Ireland must face up to. Thankfully Ireland does not appear to have a problem of human trafficking on the scale of many of our European neighbours and the United Nations report, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, ranked Ireland at the lower end of transit or destination countries in Europe. However, we have seen enough evidence of human traffickers viewing Ireland as both a transit and a destination country to realise that trafficking does exist in Ireland.

My own constituency, Wexford, has recently been linked to claims of human trafficking in Ireland, because of the location in the county of Rosslare Europort. Rosslare was highlighted earlier this year in a BBC "Panorama" documentary which interviewed a Bulgarian human trafficker who claimed to use Rosslare as an access point to Britain. In fact, a recent report in the Welsh Assembly also claimed that Irish ports such as Rosslare were being used by traffickers to access Wales.

However, Wexford's most public and tragic encounter with human trafficking came on 30 November 2001, when a container loaded with furniture left Italy and travelled through Germany to the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium. In Zeebrugge it was loaded onto a ship which sailed to Belview Port in Waterford. From Waterford the container was transported to Drinagh business park on the outskirts of Wexford town. On the morning of 8 December, eight days after the container was loaded, it was opened in Drinagh business park. Inside were the remains of eight people who had died on the trip from Italy, including four children aged four, nine, ten and 16. Five people, including a 15 year old boy, survived the trip. The heartbreaking nature of what was discovered that morning brought home to everyone in Wexford and in the country the cruel disregard for human life which human traffickers exhibit. The great tragedy of what happened in Wexford was that it came only a year after 58 people lost their lives in similar circumstances in Dover, England. It seems that loss of life on this scale was not enough to overcome the desperation of some people and the greed and indifference to human suffering of others.

I welcome the publication of this Bill and, in particular, the performance of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan. Since taking over as Minister, he has been active and progressive and has led the Government's response to the scourge of human trafficking. To date there have been approximately 7,000 prosecutions in 20 countries on charges of human trafficking, with 3,000 convictions. I believe this Bill will allow Ireland to come into line with many other countries which are committed to the eradication of human trafficking. It will also allow Ireland to comply with the many international commitments we have signed up to at European and United Nations level.

I also recognise that the Bill is only one part of the Government's strategy to combat human trafficking. A new high level group on combating trafficking in human beings is being established with the intention of presenting the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform with the most effective tactics to fight traffickers in human misery. The forthcoming Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2007 will also address our treatment of the victims of trafficking. The Bill will allow Ireland to comply with our obligations under the Council of Europe convention, as well as enshrining in law the recognition that those who are trafficked are victims.

Internationally, we are also becoming more active in co-operating with other countries to tackle human trafficking. The fact that the victims I mentioned earlier, who were found in such tragic circumstances in Wexford, had travelled through Italy, Germany and Belgium before reaching Ireland shows that international co-operation is vital to tackle human trafficking. Ireland has become involved in the European G6 initiative against human trafficking with Britain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The Garda Síochána is particularly active in co-operating with a number of initiatives based in Britain, such as the human trafficking centre and Operation Pentameter II. Indeed, the Madeleine McCann case, whatever its outcome, has put the issue of child kidnapping and trafficking top of the agenda. Last week my five year old nephew, in a reply to a comment I made to him, retorted that he did not want to end up being taken away like Madeleine McCann. The issue has permeated all levels and ages of society.

Ireland as a country cannot become complacent about the problem of human trafficking. Human trafficking profits on the suffering of others. The victims of human trafficking are the weakest members of society and are voiceless to seek help. I welcome this legislation as a response to the problem of human trafficking and I hope it will help to ensure that Ireland never again sees a tragedy like the one witnessed in Wexford on 8 December 2001.

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